Durban — World-renowned tuberculosis (TB) expert Professor Kogie Naidoo has been honoured as an outstanding scientist.
Naidoo was this week awarded the prestigious Outstanding Female Scientist Prize presented by the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP), a research programme of the EU. The ceremony took place at the 11th EDCTP Forum opening ceremony in Paris.
The prize was awarded to “world-leading female scientists in sub-Saharan Africa working on HIV/Aids, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected infectious diseases.”
Naidoo received the award for her seminal scientific contributions on the treatment of patients with TB and HIV co-infection that has shaped local and international treatment guidelines.
Naidoo said the award was a huge recognition for women scientists in Africa, adding that the work being done was of high quality and made an impact on saving lives.
“And it shows how responsive we are to the needs of our population. It’s profiling the work that we are doing. It’s showing the impact of our work.
“Science and women are still emerging because it’s been traditionally the domain of men. As I have extended my research to diagnosing and treating multidrug-resistant TB, I have seen how investing in science is creating a healthy future for poor nations in supporting equitable access to life-saving drugs and health care.
“This award recognises not just the science but the capacity building. It is acknowledging the Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in South Africa (Caprisa) team, its funders, collaborators, peers, patients and the entire community,” said Naidoo.
Naidoo who is the deputy director and head of Caprisa TB-HIV Treatment Research Programme and honorary associate Professor in the College of Health Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), has made major contributions to Aids care and treatment in southern Africa.
Her research has focused on reducing mortality in TB-HIV co-infection, immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome, additive drug toxicity and drug interactions; the outcomes of which have shaped local and international clinical and policy guidelines.
She said Caprisa was 80% women, it was science driven by women.
“It is transferring knowledge, transferring skills, creating role models for other women to aspire to. This is not just the domain of men and that we can compete for grants, compete for awards and compete in terms of intellectual output. We don’t have enough female role models in sub-Saharan Africa in science,” she said.
Naidoo is leading a consortium on evaluating new diagnostics for extensively drug-resistant TB. She is also working on various projects to increase treatment adherence.
When Naidoo started practising as a young doctor, all she saw was dying mothers and babies.
“There were no antiretrovirals and there wasn’t a recognition that HIV caused Aids. All we saw was despair, suffering and pain. I felt compelled to be part of a solution and I got involved in the very first research studies that looked at interrupting mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Though we were treating people for HIV, they were still dying of TB.”
She said her career had been spent mitigating the effects of HIV and TB on the community. Her ultimate goal was to end her career in a TB-free world.
Professor Salim Abdool Karim, director of Caprisa, said Naidoo was among South Africa’s most accomplished medical scientists.
“Her seminal findings have had a direct impact on saving the lives of patients with HIV-TB co-infection. The treatment approach for HIV-TB co-infection in almost all countries in the world draws upon her research.”
Sunday Tribune